Death to adverbs!

[fushingfeef]

Ever since reading "On Writing", I am reluctant to ever use an adverb in the written format! Every time I see an adverb that I've written, it's like a little Stephen King angel appears on my shoulder and says "You don't need that adverb! Strike it down!"

Has this happened to anyone else?

[Moderator]

Yes, as I am guilty of adverb proliferation in my writing and have thought to myself WWSS (what would Stephen say?) if he saw it, but continue to do it anyway. If I was writing for publication (this doesn't count), I would be more judicious in my adverb usage. On second thought, I realize I have sometimes edited my emails to him after noticing too many adverbs.

[Brian - Metro]

After we read On Writing, I think we axed about 500 adverbs from our script. It was pathetic, and exactly what Stephen meant by "trying to hard." They suck.

-B

[Bryan James]

I kill some. The rest I just type very slowly.

~BJS

[Doc Wilson]

I took to heart his advice to quit searching for synonyms for "said". My characters immediately stopped interjecting and exclaiming.

[Bryan James]

I took to heart his advice to quit searching for synonyms for "said". My characters immediately stopped interjecting and exclaiming.

"I even try to avoid 'said' now. If someone can't follow who's saying what in my dialogue, I haven't done my job," Bryan said.

[JohnDalglish]

I took to heart his advice to quit searching for synonyms for "said". My characters immediately stopped interjecting and exclaiming.

Hi,

Indeed, me too (he said).

I can't stand premature interjection.

Long days and pleasant nights

[ChristineB]

Yes, as I am guilty of adverb proliferation in my writing and have thought to myself WWSS (what would Stephen say?) if he saw it, but continue to do it anyway. If I was writing for publication (this doesn't count), I would be more judicious in my adverb usage. On second thought, I realize I have sometimes edited my emails to him after noticing too many adverbs.

This is just too funny Ms. Mod. I am sure I would do the exact same thing in your case.

You must remember SK doesn't nix ALL the adverbs in his writing and so maybe a few can stay.

What seems so funny to me is that, from my POV, it seems all english writing teachers have some pet peeve. My college english comp 1 teacher absolutely hated (I could have replaced that adverb and verb with loathed, I guess) both the "being" verbs (non-action verbs) and the pharse "there are, is, were, was" at the start of a sentence. Suffice it to say, if you had one of those in a paper for her you were automatically going to start with a C and go down from there. Now I read how SK hates adverbs, just a funny thing to me.

[XD3V0NX]

Yes, God Yes. Adverbs need to die. I don't even use them, and when I do, it's rare. But when I see someone else use an adverb in their writing, I can't help but get annoyed. I'm with you right there. Instead of Money being the root to all evil, it is Adverbs that are the root to all evil.
And another thing, Adverbs are like Satan's slaves! >x]

[Srbo]

Yeah, well, what can I do, I try to write to the best of my limited abilities since English is not my first language.

Seriously.